Just so you Know

I am still planning to write my blog.  I believe I may have writer's block.  Though I'm busy doing things,  I'm not sure any of it is of interest.

Christmas time is wonderful.  I like celebrating the greatest gift.  God, our Father's gift of His Son.  I also like shopping for presents and decorating the tree.  Going to Christmas pageant's and concerts. Once in a while go to see the Nutcracker.  I love the Russian dancers.

Watch them here.

The Chinese dancer and Arabian dancers are also good.  Well, frankly, the whole darn show is grand.

One of my all time favorite Christmas movies is "The Homecoming"   Preview here.

When I was a child, I loved "Amahl and the Night Visitors." When I looked on YouTube, there were several versions.  If you're interested you can look them up.  The ones I watched years ago were performed live each year.

I also love "A Charlie Brown Christmas."  I love "Christmas Time is Here."  Here.

Perhaps I'll post again before Christmas comes, but in case I don't,  Happy Christmas to all of you and a peaceful, healthy, fun New Year.

Joy to the World

The vest is done 2

I made my sister a vest a month or so ago see post here.  The pattern I used for it I had originally bought to make myself a fleece vest and so I have.

Please excuse the glare on my spectacles,  This was the best of several views so I went with it in spite.  I still struggled with the zipper.  This time I think it was my inexperience with fleece that caused the problem.  But one can't  tell from a distance, eh?  So I'm going to live with it.  It is nice and warm.

I am awaiting fabric for a robe as a gift and so it's off to make more bags for the co-op.  I went in yesterday and there were only five of the ten I made left.  Hooray for new members!  

So short and sweet. May your Thanksgiving be pleasant and not too filling.

Truly Whatever

Hello.  Have I said how much I love Autumn?  I have?  It bears repeating. I Love Fall!

Under the maple tree at the medical building.

Oh, turning leaves are beautiful, yes?  But I also love the misty, rainy days that happen after a rainless spring and summer.

The view out the window while paying bills yesterday.  How easily distracted I am.

Earlier yesterday, the rain stopped and the little birds came out looking for goodies.  The new green grass is out and the old brown summer grass is fading away. I love my fall flag.

Now don't despair.  There is sewing.  It's only bags for the Co-op, but there are ten of them.

I had fallen behind my 3 each week so I made these up and now I should keep it up.  

Also now is the Christmas sewing.  I have 5 things to make as gifts and one I've cut out for me so should whip that one up right away. It's a fleece vest in a lime green from the same pattern as my

 my sister's vest. We'll see how it goes.

Autumn Leaves sung by Nat King Cole

Please listen, it's beautiful.

Hi

I've been busier than normal all of October and November is kind of starting off like that. Okay, I'm done whining.

In June I wrote a post about a trip to Pacific Grove, Monterey and Big Sur with  my daughter.  And we went again. This time Alex had a librarian conference to go to so I tagged along. The weather was unbeatable.

We went to the Nepenthe Cafe Kevah. 

 

Along Highway 1, the ocean seemed to glow .

 

Bixby Creek Bridge, I love this bridge.

I drove on down then stopped and looked back.

 

That's it. My love post for Big Sur.

Come back, there's sure to be some sewing going on.

The Salt

This is just a small portion of the 'the salt' I'm talking about.

My husband loved the salt.

Bonneville Salt Flats

Before I ever knew him, he and a buddy came out to the flats to see Speed Week first hand.  They slept in the car.
Bonneville Nationals SCTA 

Before he had his own car, he went to see all the different race vehicles go as fast as they could.  From big rigs, to jet powered streamliners, to roadsters, to motorcycles. Even more.  

 

 




















As we came over the hills to get to W. Wendover, NV, this is the sight he loved to see.

Miles and miles of salt.  The Salt.

His car.

 

In 2006, his dream of racing on the salt flats came true.

Sheep to Shawl

I am a member for the Hangtown Fibers Guild.  We're a group of fiber enthusiasts meeting to enjoy and promote fiber arts. We are weavers, spinners, knitters, crocheters, basket makers and more.   The website here.

One of things we enjoy is participating in  Sheep to Shawl competitions.  These are held at some county fairs and at wool shows and festivals.  Yesterday it was Lambtown in Dixon, California.

What is a Sheep to Shawl competition?  Teams gather from various guilds to make a shawl from minimally prepared fiber in four hours.   Apparently many years ago, the event would be much longer and would start with a sheep.   So shearing, skirting and washing the fleece (they may have skipped the washing) teasing the fiber, carding (getting the fiber to go in one direction) spinning, plying and finally weaving.  We start with washed and dyed wool.  Ours was Romney from Mendenhall's in Loma Rica.  Want an amazing, very high quality fleece?  Here you go.

 Just getting set up. It's about 0900,  the competition starts at 1000.   The loom at center.  There are 5 teams.  We are setting up our info table.  Sometimes the judges also note the decorations and teams uniforms.  They are not really uniforms, but unifyers.  We had hats, aprons and some guild logo shirts.

We have on mascot, Loretta, in front.  She is a pack sheep with her pack saddle and gold pan.  We are The Fiber Miners. Go Miners.

This was my first competition on the team.  I don't spin or weave, but I can card.  However, I was the educator.  The educators job to answer questions from the public so the team members aren't stopping to answer.  The educator can not do anything to help the team. 

You can just see 2 spinners getting started. The educator is up front.

Here you can see the weaver, center stage.  We were all so thankful for the shade.  It was 93.

You can just see the carder's elbow on the right.

 The weaving in process.  It's lunch break.  Note team hat on chair.

We were first off the loom, but much finishing to so.  Don't you love the color?  The team is checking for error, winding the fringe and making the last tweaks before turning it in.

I'm sorry to say I have no photos of the other competitors, or their shawls.  That's really too bad as they were all very lovely.  

I'll just close by saying that I thoroughly enjoyed my part in the Lambtown Sheep to Shawl competition.  And . . . . 

We got first place!

Alas no photo of the prizes or the whole team.  Some were taken, but not by me.

To be quite honest,  I did not think about a post for the blog at the show yesterday.  I just took some pictures.  Now I realize the starting fiber would have been nice to see and maybe some of the other teams.  I'm sorry it's not very complete.

The Vest is Done

Yes, at long last I have finished my sister's vest.  I'm not terribly happy with the zipper placement.  It had been awhile since I put in a zipper and I'd never put in a separating one right in the front of the garment like it's a focal point. Aack.

I purposely chose this blurry photo so you get the idea without seeing the thing clearly. It's quite plain.  I wanted to decorate it somehow with stitching or embroidery.

And then for my modeling debut, I wore very ratty pants that detract severely.  And really, in the kitchen?  Why not out on the deck?

In the end I tried to disguise the zipper stitching with a decorative stitch after checking with Pat as to color of accent. She wanted blue.  

I did it slightly lighter shade, but it didn't cover up the original stitching. So I thought "ah ha" a beaded zipper pull to detract, hopefully, this time..  Nope.

Anyone who has ANY suggestions about putting in a separating zipper, please comment.  I've a fleece vest and a jacket to make that will each need a zipper.

Closing with this.

It's Placerville, California. That's the bell tower.

There are only two cities in El Dorado County. Placerville and South Lake Tahoe.